Broken hip possible without pain

SISTER ALTHEA JACKSONSpecial

Published Thursday, April 19, 2001

On this coming June 27, I will be 79 years old. In my Neighbors column for March 27, I wrote of falling in my driveway as I was getting the Record early in the morning of March 19: ''I knew I had broken no bones, so I was waiting for my bruised side to heal.''

The next day, Tuesday, the 20th, I realized I needed help, and began calling orthopedic surgeons. The first three I called told me they would not be able to operate on me, if that were necessary, until a week later. Then I phoned Dr. Douglas Dew, whose office is in Southpark, across the street from the Flagler Hospital. Dr. Dew said to call 911, and he would alert the Emergency Room that I was on the way.

As I was rolled past the desk, I said, ''I put on lipstick, so you would not label me DOA.'' I have no color in my lips, which are chronically dry. I use Vaseline, but once a day I put on lipstick. Incidentally, if you are being admitted to the Flagler, and you use Vaseline, take some with you as you enter. The hospital does not have any. By the time I learned this, my lips were badly cracked. At one point, as I was being wheeled down the hall to have an X-ray, the scab in the corner of my mouth came off. I reached into the pocket in the front of the gown (where the monitor of the heart is kept when one is ''traveling'') and pulled out some toilet tissue which I used to catch the O-Negative blood that was pouring from my lip. By that time I was on Coumadin, the blood-thinner. If I had not had the tissues, my blood would have been dropping to the floor. Take along a box of Kleenex if you're entering the Flagler Hospital. Their tissues are 5-by-6 inches, impossible to use!

The X-rays showed that in my fall I had broken off the ball at the top of the femur, the top bone of the leg. The ball fits into the hip socket. The Pope sustained the very same injury when he fell at the Vatican, several years ago.

In surgery, Dr. Dew replaced the broken-off ball with a stainless steel ball. Several days after my surgery, I was transferred to the Transitional Care Unit, from which I would be discharged a few days later. I arranged for home Health Care, instead of spending time in a nursing home. This was possible, because my daughter lives with me.

As I was being admitted to the TCU, I remarked to Carliss Anderson, RN, ''I have had absolutely no pain, from my fall until now.'' She replied, ''Most older people who fracture a hip do not have any pain. The nerves in that area have lost their sensitivity.''

Intrigued by that response, I phoned several people I knew, utilizing the telephone available in each private room. The number is unique, being the hospital exchange plus one's room number. I was able to arrange with Dr. Scott Michaels to include my story on his Healthbeat program, that was broadcast on Thursday, April 5, from 6 to 6:30 p.m., and to point out that anyone injured in a fall or car crash, who cannot put weight on a leg, though they are experiencing no pain, should go immediately to have X-rays. If there is a broken hip, there is real danger of a blood clot, which could prove fatal. I have even heard of a woman who walked into a doctor's office after she'd fallen, on the hip that was broken. Incidentally, Dr. Michaels' Healthbeat program is on Channel 22, a UHF (Ultra-High Frequency) station.

Meanwhile, I had called some friends of mine who have had broken hips. When I asked each one, ''Was your experience painful?'' Everyone said, ''Oh, no, not at all.''

Now I am working to spread this information, which is potentially life-saving. Call me at 829-3962, (or write me at 711 Cross Park Drive, St. Aug. FL. 32084). If you have broken a hip, or if you'd like to speak with me. If I'm out, my ''answering machine'' (daughter Jean) will take a message.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Sister Althea Jackson writes the Neighbors column from West Augustine which appears each Tuesday.